Ballast-machine.



. & L. D. DROUARD'.

BALLAST MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.24| 19H.

" Patented. May 2, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE coLummA PLANOGRAPH 60., WASHINGTON, D. C.

villi/W555 P. A. & L; D; DROUARD.

BALLAST MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.24, 1911.

Patented May 2, 1916.

washing machines. 'mitted of loading the washed ballast on to arm in.

PAUL ARMANI) DROUARID AND LEON DESIRE DROUARD, QF ROTTEN, FRANCE.

BALLAST-MACHINE.

Application filed August 24, 1911.

To all whom it may concern Be it lmown that we, PAUL ARMAND DROUARD and LEON Dnsmn DROUARD, both residing at 2 Boulevard Jeanne dArc, Rouen, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Ballast-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Railway companies in order to assure the setting and draining of their lines employ screened gravel as ballast. This gravel is passed through a screen of a definite mesh and the large pieces are broken to such a dimension that they can pass through a ring the diameter of which varies from 7 to 10 cm. This ballast is obtained from alluvial. soils and is generally submerged beneath the level of the water. Hitherto, .the most improved means employed permitted of extracting and washing the gravel by means of machines called excavators, screening machines and This apparatus perthe car, but let the sand and the water fall back between the track of theexcavator and that of the car being loaded. There thus resulted a blocking-up and a rapid deteriorationof the tracks. Moreover, theworking of and access to the machines was very difii-v cult, because the works were continuously covered with water. The sand, which amounted sometimes to 40% of the gravel extracted was subsequently loaded on to cars with shovels. The ballast obtained by means of the excavators, screening and washing machines contained large pieces which had to be removed and broken by hand when placing the ballast on the tracks. This process was accomplished by serious disadvantages. Besides the accidents, to which the stone-breaker was liable, the operation of breaking was always long, of but slight interest to the worker, very costly and very irregular. However great was the care employed some large pieces were always overlooked. The irregularity of the work prevented its being performed as piece-work, supervision was very difficult, the output of eaoh'worker very low and consequently very costly. For a long time efforts had been made to do it mechanically, and mechanical screening was proposed for separating out the large pieces. These latter were then Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented llllay 2, 1916..

Serial No. 645,732.

taken and transported toa crushing mill at a fixed spot in the quarry. The broken pieces were then again taken, loaded on to the car and sent ofi. By working thus, however, and notwithstanding the repeated handling of the gravel, which is very costly, the quality of the ballast was very seriously affected by the removal of the large pieces, because it was materially impossible to remix-them properly in the mass again. The large broken pieces form angular pieces which grip the sleepers and prevent displacement or spreading of the lines. It is therefore of great importance to mix these angular pieces proportionately throughoutthe whole mass, so as to obtain a homogeneous ballast of first quality, but this result was not obtained with the process above described. Furthermore, the mills hitherto employed for crushing the ballast delivered.

stones which were very irregular in size and frequently but imperfectly complying with requirements. The machine worked by pressure and consequently produced a much greater proportion of fine material than results when breaking by hand with a hammer. The apparatus forming the subject matter of the present invention comprises a machine for crushing large rocks, thereby producing a gravel used as ballast.

Vile will now describe our invention with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a front view of the plant. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the plant. Fig. 3 is a detail of the decanting basin situated at the lower part of the sand elevator. Fig. 4 is a section along the line B B of Fig. 8.

The ballast machine forming the subject matter of this invention is characterized by the combination of an excavator, two screening machines, a stone-breaking machine, a

pump, and two conveyers, all of which per along with it the stones and sand and allows of two sets of superimposed cylinders rotating at a very high speed and each provided on its periphery with special teeth or recesses offering angles for engaging with the stones. The very high speed at which the cylinders rotate is for the purpose of effecting a violent blow at themoment when the stone passes between the cylinders so as to produce the minimum quantity of fine material and thus avoid the very great disadvantage referred to above with stone-breaking mills as ordinarily employed. The stones so broken now fall into a suitable conveyer 5 which conveys them directly toa car 6. The material that can be employed without being broken and which has passed through the screen 3 falls into an inclined chute 7 and is carried along by the washing water into a rotary screen 8 which is of the same type as thescreen 3, but of much smaller mesh so that onlythe sand, which is considered as a by-product, passes through. During its rotary movement the screen -8 carries along with it the stones, the sand and the clayey materials, while a powerful sprin kling with water, obtained as previously by means of a central perforated tube, completely cleans the gravelly mass and carries along with it the sand and the dissolved clayey materialsthrough the perforations of the screen-cylinder. Only the stones continue their passage, and at the end of the screen fall into a car 6, which they reach entirely cleaned. The arrangement of the parts is such that the broken pieces fall into the car at about the same spot as the screened material, with which they are again auto- Inatically mixed. The angular pieces of the ballast will thus be distributed uniformly and not superficially throughout the entire mass, which considerably improves its quality. In brief, the cleaned ballast contains as broken pieces the whole of the large stones which it previously contained. The sand and the water used for washing pass through the perforations of the screen 8 and fall into a chute 9 which conducts them into a decanting basin 10 through which rotates a chain and bucket conveyer 11, the buckets of which are perforated. The sand is deposited at the bottom of the basin whereas the washmg water and the dissolved clayey materials pass through a perforated wall surrounding .away with the washing water and returned to the cutting sufficiently far away so as not to be taken up again by the excavator.

The plant is completed of course by the machines and accessories for driving the various apparatus, and it will only be necessary to enumerate the same.

15 is a pump with a rose for drawing the water from the cutting to be used for washing; 16 are the pipes for conducting the washing water to the screen; 17 is the engine used for moving the whole plant from place to place; 18 is the engine for driving the screen 8; 19 is the engine for driving the excavator 1; 20 is the boiler for supplying steam to the engine of the pump 15 and to the engines 17 18 and 19; 21 is the engine for driving the screen 8; 22 is the engine driving the stone-breaking machine 4; 23 isthe machine for driving the sand conveyer; 24: and 25 are the boilers for supplying steam to the engines 21, 22 and 23; and 26 is the hoisting winch of the excavator.

Besides its character as a whole, which consists in a grouping of various mechanical parts permitting of obtaining a definite work, the invention comprises improvements in detail in the cleaning of the stones and sand, and in the stone-breaking cylinders. The former of these improvements consists in the use of the decanting basin 10 (Figs. 3 and 4) in which works the chain provided with perforated buckets 11 for taking up the sand again and draining it. This basin comprises an inner chamber 10 and an outer chamber 10 separated by a perforated partition 27. The sand is deposited in the inner chamber 10 from where it is removed by the buckets 11, and the washing water with the dissolved argillaceous materials passes through the perforated wall 27 which completely surrounds the inner chamber 10 and falls into the outer chamber 10 from where it is conveyed by the pipe 14: back to the cutting.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In an apparatus for producing ballast, the combination of a screening and washing device, a crushing device, means for delivering the oversize from the screening and Washing device to the crushing device, a In testimony whereof We have afixed our second screenlng and Washing devlce adaptslgnatures 1n presence of two Witnesses.

ed to receive the undersize from the first PAUL ARMAND DROUARD.

screening and Washing device, and means LEON DESIRE DROUARD. 5 for remingling the material from the crush- Witnesses:

ing means and the oversize from the second H. 0. 00x11,

screening and Washing device. RENE LEON PIERRE LAVALLE- Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents Washingtomm. (2.?" 

